


Rocks and Feathers

by fish_wifey



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Hero AU, Idiots in Love, M/M, from exes to lovers, second chance at romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27695498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fish_wifey/pseuds/fish_wifey
Summary: They were partners once, fighting crime.They were also intimate.But Iwaizumi terminated the contract, and broke up with him. Still, they're heroes serving the same city. They're bound to run into each other.And both have still feelings for each other, too.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Rocks and Feathers

**Author's Note:**

> Gdi I had it in my drafts ready to post and then forgot about it.
> 
> anyway I'm holding an impromptu ushijima upload moment by myself! and I really love these two together! I missed writing them and I have larger works for them planned as well TT But it's been years since 'Flare'.
> 
> Wakatoshi with wings and Hajime with the rock-related stuff is my jam TT Please enjoy these idiots.

Hajime bounces of the hard concrete like its rubber. He’s usually able to bend the earth more to his liking, but not getting hurt on it is a big plus. His mind just can’t catch up to the severe pain in his side. A blow knocked in not by the villain he was fighting.

On hands and knees, he heaves, trying to breathe. Looking up, he watches large white wings unfold. Instead of legs, huge bird talons descend on the villain Hajime was so close to knocking down. Instead, Eagle picks up the villain, and flies off in one swoop. The guy Hajime fought screams, but not from pain. Just from the sudden flight and height being gained.

Knowing what that feels like, Hajime sits back, inspecting a tear in his pants. The call for justice came when he was walking the streets in civilian clothes, and while concrete and stone won’t hurt him, he cannot protect normal made clothes from being roughed up. While he can easily stitch the tear up and not care, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Eagle’s wing shouldn’t have knocked him sideways, or interfere in this fight at all. 

Looking up, Hajime feels just the tiniest bit bad for the guy currently being flown off. Eagle had his very own sort of pre-punishment before bringing villains to authorities, and this was it. There’s nothing Hajime can do about it now, but watch Eagle’s white wings fly through the midnight sky. Sighing that for the fifth time this month, his job was interrupted by this particular hero, Hajime curses his name.

He knows Eagle’s identity, after all. 

*

*

The police station is buzzing with activity. Saturday night was a popular evening for criminals, after all. A couple of officers on desk duty greet Hajime, who never actively hid his identity behind a mask. He didn’t like them, period. His hero costume had been very simple, too. 

He finds the core energy of the station, where Ushijima Wakatoshi, high school volleyball ace, top student at his university hero college, and now the number one hero of Sendai, receives a great many thanks for once again, delivering justice. Hajime feels his pulse quicken. While he stays all smiles, he wishes he could punch Ushijima in his perfect face, and known some teeth out while he’s at it. 

“Just doing my duty,” Ushijima says as Hajime approaches. ‘Eagle’, as he simply called himself given his white wings and eagle legs, has the guts to look at Hajime comes closer and waving at him. “Sorry about earlier. I only noticed you were there and hit my wing after I took the villain…”

Hajime eyes look to the atrocity that are Ushijima’s legs. As long as he was on his hero get up serving the city of Sendai, he chose to show off his bird legs. Even so, a lot of women and a couple of men still flaunt around him like he’s hot shit. Hajime never understood why, outside of duty, Ushijima would display those weird chicken legs, especially if he could transform them into human ones in the blink of an eye. Hajime shudders, remember exactly what those legs look like…

Shaking the image of Ushijima Wakatoshi, college student and lying on Hajime’s futon from his mind, Hajime knocks him into a wall. The wings seem to not be into it, and keep folded behind Ushijima, making sure he never actually contacts the wall with his back himself. 

“You bastard… I had the situation under control,” Hajime hisses, making all the officers disappear like smoke. Ushijima looks down on him, as he always does given his entitlement and height. 

“I thought you were losing… It looked like the villain had the upper hand over you,” Ushijima says, perfectly civil and calm. The urge to punch him increases, but with the proximity and Hajime’s mind procuring other back flashes of his student life, another emotion rises up his ribs, down his pants. Abolishing all sorts of thoughts entirely, he backs off with a grunt, and makes to leave. He won’t get credit for the fight, and Ushijima can stand once more as the shining knight of Sendai. 

“Rock-on, wait,” Ushijima says, but Hajime is making his way out of the police station in rapid speed. And when he’s alone, he merges into the concrete walls of the staircase, where no wallpaper or other materials are used. In this fashion, he returns to the streets faster than humanly possible. He needs as much distance from Ushijima as he can possible create physically.

His mind meanwhile, goes mental with resurging emotions of years and years ago… He’s 25, but his first real love still flares up and taunts him.

Having an ex as magnificent and irritating and gorgeous as Ushijima hits Hajime harder than usual. When he goes home, he makes a detour towards the store to buy some beer, and stay home for the rest of the night. Heroes need breaks too.

*

*

It’s not his ‘style’, as Tendou would say. Perched in a tree, Wakatoshi has his wings folded neatly against his body, and they curve below the branches without disturbing a single leaf. His talons hold on tight to the wood. He’s been sitting like this for a good 25 minutes, watching Hajime drink 3 beers, then fall asleep. It itches in Wakatoshi’s fingers to turn off the TV, to put Hajime properly to his futon. Wakatoshi still knows the layout of this place and Hajime peculiarities.

Just as he knew the dangers Hajime flung himself into, with reckless abandon. 

After all these years, Wakatoshi still felt the need to watch out for him. Unchanged remains Hajime a soft spot in his heart. It was the reason they broke up too, as Wakatoshi’s instinctive reactions protected Hajime in fights, always. When Hajime terminated their dualship hero contract, he also told Wakatoshi to leave his apartment. For good. 

Wakatoshi knew he should have told Hajime this immediately but… he misses living there. To live with Hajime. Love doesn’t fade, heartbreak didn’t heal. The only thing Wakatoshi could do is fight for justice, distract himself from hunting criminals.

But if your ex-boyfriend and partner lives and works in the same area, you’d happen to meet every now and then...

Sighing, he sets his feelings aside. Hajime was fine without him. Hajime had been strong from the start, and didn’t exactly need Wakatoshi’s help. As a winged hero, Wakatoshi knew how to see things in bird view. As a hero closely connected to rocks and the earth, Hajime knew about the details. 

Things just didn’t work out between them.

Going against the unlawful thing of breaking and entering, Wakatoshi transforms his body into a more human form. Feathers fall as the wings retract into his skin, becoming an intricate tattoo. His talons disappear to make way for actual human legs and two normal feet. Gathering his civilian clothes from his backpack, Wakatoshi changes on top of the tree, a common habit he picked up when he didn’t want to transform in plain sight, or in Hajime’s apartment. Climbing down the tree, Wakatoshi gives the window one more glance, then leaves out of the street.

Leaving the sensation of ‘home’ behind him.

*

*

He slices the air in his flight downwards. Only during his hero training in college had Wakatoshi ever gone up to the speed that leaves the sound of a fighting jet. Back then, his suit wasn’t optimized for the new limit he broke through. The same adrenaline now rushes through him, but what changed in time is that he won’t feel the all-sickening knowledge that he won’t be able to land.

The fibres of his pants glow, top to bottom, brighter where his human thighs end and his eagle legs start. Green dots light up like stars on a moonless night in the countryside. Indicators only he can understand, allowing him for better reactive timing. Wakatoshi pulls his arms alongside his spread-out wings, then ticks the landing. His eagle feet leave small a singular small crater. He makes the quick decision to keep his second pair of legs on full display, as the talons of his feet have always been superior to his useless human toes. He’d only change off-duty.

The countryside. He hasn’t been to see his grandparents for some time now… And last time, he had introduced Hajime to them. A proud moment, reflected in the big smiles of his grandparents. His mother hadn’t been too keen about a ‘boyfriend’, but took it in stride. Receiving heartfelt support and acceptance couldn’t be duplicated, however. Wakatoshi pushes the happy thought, tinged with a small amount of sadness, aside as he takes in the scene unfolding in front of him. 

“Packed them up all nice for ya,” Hajime grunts, his jaw tight. There’s a specific sign of anger displayed in the squareness of Hajime’s lower jaw, one that Wakatoshi has learned to be alert about. No false or sudden movements, no assumption of authority. Wakatoshi nods. 

“Well done, Hajime. A clean job,” Wakatoshi says, watching as three tightly packed, roped together bandits squirm beneath Hajime’s weight. Well, the two who lie between his feet are. The third in the middle has wide eyes looking up to Wakatoshi, eyes shifting from one wing to the other. Apart from individual binding around the arms and legs, the three were sharing one larger rope too. Their mouths were shut without an added source. Hajime could instill fear and silence into enemies and friends alike.

Lovers too. 

“When I asked for back up, I would have hoped they’d send a bus…” Hajime sighs, carefully stepping off one criminal. “...There was an explosion..?” 

Wakatoshi nods once more, not having moved from his spot until Hajime got off his. He relays the information about an explosion in the city’s center. All units, even from other districts, had been employed to help out. 

“Everyone in the vicinity has been cleared and secured. Many are wounded, but no dead. There haven’t been any clues yet to whose done it yet.” 

“That so. Well these guys seem to have a hunch and a half. They wouldn’t talk more than that,” Hajime scoffs, his eyes unable to meet Wakatoshi. He always hated being unable to handle the finer parts of the job, just like Wakatoshi. They both were rough powerhouse types, who got what they needed through brutal force. ‘Talking’ wasn’t a forte, neither here nor—

“Don’t space out on me! Just… Alright okay you can take one and fly him to whatever district department has the space to hold him. I’ll follow suit in my slower pace,” Hajime says, unwilling to admit any kind of flaw, or comparing himself as the lesser between the two. No matter what Wakatoshi said or had done, he wouldn’t be able to fix that kind of… complex. So he never had.

“Let me take two. This park isn’t close to any police departments. And there’s a lot of distressed citizens out and about. It’s easier if I take two skywards,” The words are barely out of Wakatoshi’s mouth, and his neck warms up in an unpleasant manner. Angering Hajime shouldn’t be this easy, and a hero could use a cool head.

“Oh _sure_ , just like you to want and take some fame for yourself. I was the one who overheard these assholes talking about the explosion and a ‘boss’, and I was the one who followed them here and fought them!”

“Iwaizumi—”

“You can’t just—fly in and expect to be given priority or whatever!” Once Hajime gets going, he wouldn’t huff and puff about it (as Tendou called it) and then leave it be. Hajime walks in front of the criminals’ heads, who watch him with a rapid renewed fear. “You do this all the time! Before we were together, when we were together, after the relationship ended! Why won’t you just fucking leave me alone doing my job!?”

“It’s our job. It’s always been. You were never alone in this.”

“No, but I chose to. I don’t need a partner. You know what, just go. I will wait here until someone with a police bus shows up. No! Don’t dare touch one of them!” Hajime rants, stepping in front of Wakatoshi when the latter made a move towards… towards Hajime. Wakatoshi cannot explain why his hand reaches out, apart from the need to touch his… ex. An old habit to calm him down, but Wakatoshi has wasted the right to do anything like it. 

“Your anger is unjustified,” Wakatoshi says, truthfully from the heart. As so many things he has uttered since he knew Hajime, it’s not the right choice of words. It never is. The one thing Wakatoshi had wanted Hajime to understand is the utter inadequacy he feels when talking to him; they’ve never been easy. Hajime’s shoulders square up, ready for another fight. He huffs, showing signs of disliking Wakatoshi’s presence here. When Wakatoshi feels unable to continue his previous choice of words, Hajime’s nerves meet their boundaries.

“ _What now_?” 

“Look, I won’t fly. We can walk the way, and swap loads half way. Fair?” Wakatoshi doesn’t know where it comes from. The unexpected words surprise not just himself, but also Hajime, whose shoulders lower. A good sign. Being called aloof and blind in the past, Wakatoshi works hard every day; to connect with people, to understand them when all he sees are question marks. People like Hajime, who would get angry at him for not understanding simple things. 

“Fine. Let’s move then.” Hajime reaches for a bad guy to carry, and Wakatoshi does the same. They’re moving forward, while Wakatoshi feels he’s going back in circles. At least Hajime seems to have his temper under control. Looking to the night sky, Wakatoshi finds himself wishing, as many nights before, that everything would be as easy as chasing bad guys and upholding the law. Hajime… 

“You’re sometimes as clear as a spring rain to me, Hajime,” Wakatoshi says, noticing a second too late he, in fact, has said it out loud. Hajime stops, looking at him with a semi-shocked face. 

“Huh!?”

Wakatoshi sighs. He could shut his mouth. Or... 

“And sometimes—it’s like flying through the thickest fog, and I don’t understand a thing.” Wakatoshi waits for exactly 3 seconds. If Hajime understands what he’s saying or is too baffled to reply, Wakatoshi doesn’t know. They walk back to the city.

*

*

It’s not fair.

Hajime’s line of thinking goes there, remains. His brain scatters with thoughts, one worse than the next. It’s a hazy mess of the past, a bit of future wishful thinking, and the undeniable present. He could have bet his job he’d never go back into Ushijima’s—Wakatoshi—arms. Yet here he is, floating on a cloud, and Wakatoshi, the bird of prey, picks him up. 

If Hajime’s state has come to a messy mind, his reactions to Wakatoshi’s closeness just grunts, and these unstable, traitorous feet...then he’s done for. For sure. Wakatoshi lifts him off the floor, sweeps him away as usual. Hajime cannot even fight back. And if he would, he knows, 100%, that Wakatoshi would leave him. Maybe drop him off to a taxi and leave the fair with the driver. But he’d go away. 

Not wanting that, downright unable to stand the thought of Wakatoshi leaving, Hajime puts his arms around the man’s neck. He nuzzles into that safe zone between Wakatoshi’s neck and his shoulders, a nook he likes but never admitted to out loud. Only when they’d been asleep, in bed; when Hajime knew Wakatoshi was dreaming and wouldn’t remember Hajime snuggling close.

Like now. 

His fingers are hypersensitive. Hajime can’t stop running them over Wakatoshi’s neck. He feels them stumbling forward, but Wakatoshi’s wings are out before they fall.

And then they’re in the air. A great rush, leaving Hajime’s stomach behind on the roof they just took off from. There isn’t a regulation against winged heroes flying when they’re a little tipsy. Wakatoshi is surprisingly steady in the air, and fast too. 

They don’t fly for long. Especially because Hajime doesn’t like to be carried, first of all. He agreed to arms around the neck. Not Wakatoshi’s arms under his legs and...ass. Not that Wakatoshi does anything inappropriate. Unlike the thoughts running a wild riot in Hajime’s head, pushing his limits of what’s possible, what’s decent. Forehead pressed to an unsteady heartbeat, Hajime wonders if… if he’s the one who should have tried harder in their relationship, in their partnership. Balancing work and love… tonight proved they could be a good team, if Wakatoshi wouldn’t try to handle everything on his own. 

Hajime blurts it out. A list of demands, as if he’s in any place to put demands on an ex-lover. He might not even make any sense in his inebriated state of being. But Wakatoshi nods.

Wakatoshi, crazy enough, way too late, agrees. 

“I should’ve… trusted you, Hajime” Wakatoshi says, his lips so close to Hajime’s, his eyes so lost as they stare him down. For once, Hajime doesn’t dislike that soul-searching glare. He finally sees it for what it is; Wakatoshi looking for someone to understand him, accept him. Love him.

“I...still love you,” Wakatoshi says, and it’s all Hajime needs to hear. Wind brushing through his hair, cooling down his overheated skin, Hajime closes the distance between them. 

And Wakatoshi closes the distance between them, and the ground.

*

*

His wings don’t hurt. His knees don’t hurt. Unable to analyze if it’s the alcohol in his system or love healing his entire soul, Wakatoshi cannot care.

Not when, as soon as he rolls on his back and stretches out his wings, Hajime comes to sit right on his lap. For the briefest of moment, a flicker of self doubt crosses his mind. What if Hajime didn’t mean to kiss him. What if Wakatoshi shouldn’t have responded as such. Hajime might punch him—

But Wakatoshi is pulled upwards by his shoulders, and his arms sling around Hajime as they engage in another, more heated kiss. There’s hardly a word or sound between them. Neither know where they are, or how any of this may fix what had been broken. Holding Hajime tighter, as if he might leave after all—again—Wakatoshi puts every ounce of passion into the kiss, hoping it’s enough to show Hajime that he meant what he said. 

To keep him for good, this time. Another annoying bit of doubt shines through the cracks of broken, put-together pieces that Hajime left behind when he ended their relationships. What if this doesn’t mean anything. What if Wakatoshi has it wrong, as usual…

“Fuck, I love you too, you bastard,” Hajime says, his arms around Wakatoshi’s head, pulling him close to Hajime’s chest. He feels Hajime’s nose bury in his hair, of shakes going through the body sitting on top of him. Hajime is laughing, full-body, and it overrides any negative emotion gathered in Wakatoshi’s gut. He starts to laugh too, putting his wings around Hajime.

“Could we possibly… start over in the morning?” Wakatoshi says, unafraid to look up and find what he’s been looking for, hoping for. Hajime smiles back down at him, the most brilliant sight.

“Yeah… totally. Coffee at the usual place. You pick me up—but not another flight!” Hajime offers, and Wakatoshi remembers how Hajime drinks his coffee. He nods, happy to stay here until morning comes.


End file.
